Review: Miley Cyrus leaves Hannah behind

Less than two years ago, Miley Cyrus appeared at the Oracle Arena in Oakland and played the part of her Disney Channel alter-ego Hannah Montana. She smiled as she bounced about the stage, singing happy tunes that delighted pigtailed little girls and comforted their minivan-driving chauffeurs (aka, parents).

In that role, Miley (the daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus) wasn’t threatening in the slightest. Her function seemed simply to provide a much-needed stepping stone between Raffi, the Wiggles and other children’s music favorites to young-teen idols such as Gwen Stefani and Britney Spears.

Now, however, little Miss Cyrus wants to join that latter group.

On her current “Wonder World Tour” _ the first not to advertise the Hannah Montana name _ the 16-year-old brunette has tossed aside her Disney character’s blonde wig, as well as most of her teeny-bopper charm, in order to further establish her own star. Compared to what we’ve seen in the past – including the 2007-08 “Best of Both Worlds Tour,” which was billed to both Montana and Cyrus – this trek is a decidedly more mature affair.

The result, at least at the gate, has been more of the same for Cyrus. She drew a capacity crowd of screaming young girls and earplug-wearing parents to the Oracle Arena on Friday night. A similar scene awaits the pop princess when she performs Sunday at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.

Artistically speaking, however, it was more of a mixed bag. She tried mighty hard to prove that she’s all grown up – wearing racy outfits while she worked the microphone like a graduate of Rock Star 101 – and some of her efforts were convincing. At other times, she came across like a run-of-the-mill plastic pop star, which is something that even detractors wouldn’t have called Hannah Montana.

Admittedly, Cyrus is in a tough spot – the human embodiment of the Britney Spears’ song “I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman.” Her fans are rooting for her to succeed, and go from Disney Radio staple to the regular pop charts, but, more than anything else, they still want her to be Hannah.

To her credit, Cyrus is consciously trying to make the transition as easy as possible on fans. She’s paying attention to the little things and taking baby steps. The star’s performance, while not exactly Disney friendly, isn’t all that daring in comparison to what else exists in the market place. For example, she got a bit friendly with the male members of her band, but there was no groping, bumping or grinding to be seen. That, presumably, will come with the next tour.

The 90-minute show opened with the raucous single “Breakout,” the title track from Cyrus’ 2008 sophomore outing, and it continued at a breakneck pace through “Start All Over,” “7 Things” and “Kicking and Screaming.” She scratched and clawed through these numbers, channeling her inner Alanis Morissette at the best of times, before slowing things down with the ballad “Bottom of the Ocean.”

The visuals were dramatic, if too obvious, as the big overhead screens displayed such things as bubbles rising through water (“Bottom of the Ocean”), a frog catching a fly (“Fly on the Wall”), etc. These were the same screens that would show a lengthy preview of Cyrus’ forthcoming film, “The Last Song,” a smart marketing move that Hannah Montana would certainly sign off on.

The 19-song set list was primarily drawn from the two studio albums credited to Miley Cyrus. It also included one cover (Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll), a snippet of another (Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”) and, just to make things more confusing, four numbers off the “Hannah Montana: The Movie” soundtrack.

Care to guess what songs the fans liked best? Without a doubt, the “Hannah Montana” material _ especially the fun “Let’s Get Crazy” and the tender closer “Climb” _ drew the biggest responses.

That’s to be expected – huge transitions like the one Cyrus is trying to pull off can’t be accomplished without a few growing pains. We definitely saw and heard some on Friday night, but not enough to make us think that Cyrus won’t someday be able to achieve her end goal.